Saturday, January 12, 2008

the playroom

Today I'm taking you on a walk around my sewing room/workroom/studio space.
As I've said before, normal people would probably call it the living room, opening as it does directly from the front door... or should that be the MAIN door ?... because my kitchen also faces the front of the house and so the kitchen door is also a 'front' door.
This is not quite as bizarre as it sounds because the house is built across the hill and the best [ read 'only'] views are to the front so any designer worth his salt would take advantage of that ... right?
a small but relevant digression:
Marc had wonderful plans for purpose-built furnishings for the studio at the other house but unfortunately became ill and passed away before he could realise most of them, so I ended up with a cobbled together bunch of hand-me-downs and I guess I just stopped seeing them after a while.
When I moved here three years ago, I had plans to convert the carport into a studio space so everything sort of got plonked down in this area as a 'temporary measure' and just ... stayed.
functional? mostly
attractive? not so much
but I'm sure you all know how that is - you live with what you have
anyway
I decided recently that the space needed reorganising and that I was allowed to treat myself to some decent furniture [ shock! horror! ]

Anyway, if you come in that door - this is what's directly ahead of you:
to the right [ no photo] is what used to be the dining room and is now the loungeroom/livingroom/seating area/what-have-you and to the left?
Well first and foremost are my birthday and Christmas present to myself in the form of three new bookcases.
I just love them.
My vintage machines are now down out of the shed [ well some of them ]
My quilt books are back in the working space
oh is there anything better than having enough bookcases?
well yeah there probably is, but this is still pretty spiffy :]
and yes, I do realise that's only two but you'll see the other in a sec
See? There it is!
It's a 3' wide one and the others are 4'
Down the centre of the room are two of the three 4' square tables that Marc made for the last house. Eventually I'd like to get the third one back in here with an as yet unmade fourth so that I could have an 8' work area ... one day ... it's on the list right after learning Esperanto.
The design wall is just some caneite particle board laid against the wall. Getting it framed and properly wall mounted is also on the list after learning Esperanto.

oh and through that wee door is the room where the fabric stash lives - mistakenly thought to be a study by the previous owner.

This is the view through the front window which is usually a bit obscured by the presence of the ironing board - which got put in the stash room over Christmas ... we will now pause for Nadie to adjust to the idea that I can, and have, moved [ but not put down ] the ironing board, ... and these? are the two pieces that I am contemplating starting and we may talk more of them tomorrow

12 comments:

Bells said...

what an amazing space. Can I move in?

catsmum said...

Well Husby might miss you ... but you can come for a visit ANYTIME

Nadie said...

Is the shell spiral thing an indication that the France - Japan - Aus thing is perhaps on again?

Sheepish Annie said...

Living in a small condo means that I pretty much use the living room for everything except sleeping. (naps don't count!) I like being surrounded by my stuff and I can just go for broke when the creative urge hits!

But what I wouldn't do for a great space like you have...

catsmum said...

Nadie:
No, but I was thinking that the idea had some more mileage in it. What on earth were you doing up at 2 am ?

TinkingBell said...

Lovely workspace - and I totally agree about bookcases - I had some built in - 9 feet high and 4 metres long and a return of 2 metres and all our other ones - and you know what? still not enough room - I'm now eyeing off the hallway and the spaces over the doors and wondering.......

crazyhaberdasher said...

The room looks fantastic! Love the bookshelves.
By the way - you have been tagged!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful bookshelves, but then a bookshelf is always beautiful, no?
That shell-pattern thingy looks intriguing, I'll be interested to see what develops.

Sarah said...

How incredible! You have a great space. I need me a studio in my house, that would make me very happy.
Lucky girl.

blessedspeedy said...

At first glance I wondered why your bookcases were so neat and tidy - then I read the "blurb" they are new....lol
But they look great and the area is great too - must come and visit one day

catsmum said...

Hi Blessed!
My bookshelves always look like that - the working space doesn't but the bookshelves? I'm very very anal.

Ozjane said...

So why did we stop at taking photos beyond the ex. study door??